Maybe in another life
by Emslovesherwriting
Summary: Susie managed to escape Mr Harvey and lives to tell what happened that cold, December evening of 1973.


Maybe in another life By Emslovesherwriting

"Meet me Saturday at the mall," Said Ray Singh with his lovely long eyelashes.

I simply smiled, trying to act casual as any fourteen year old girl would do after being asked on a, I guess, date by their crush, right?

But inside I was screaming! I wish Clarissa had stuck around for me to tell her about Ray. Then again, I don't think I had even told her that I had a crush on him.

I still can remember how I had felt, that excitement that only youth was able to feel. Everything was new, everything was an adventure.

The year was 1973 when Ray Singh had asked me to meet him at the mall. I had my then mousy brown hair down, covering the blush that had formed when Ray had called me beautiful that cold, December evening. I had just left film club, and we had just witnessed a short argument between a teacher and a girl named Ruth Connors in my year. The bell bottoms were in fashion then, and I wore them with pride.

I had packed my bag quickly, excitement bubbling inside me. What would my sister Lindsey say? Well, I almost never found out…

I pushed open the back doors of the school and walked quickly. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. All I could think about was Ray, Ray, Ray. In the excitement of it all, I had even forgotten to put on my woollen bubble hat that my mother had given to me that morning.

I tried to ignore the cold as I walked past the boy's football team. How they could play in this cold weather I had no idea. But I walked anyway. I decided to use the shortcut across the cornfield that evening. I was late but because of the outcome of having a date with Ray, I didn't care at the time.

As I walked, I had seen no one at all, only a small figure in the distance. I had stopped and decided that despite the embarrassment of it all, I put the stupid hat on because my ears felt like they were freezing off. A piece of rice paper had leapt out of my bag, and I watched as it danced in the slight wintery breeze. I didn't remember putting that in my bag.

I began running towards it when all of a sudden a man came into my view. I knew him straight away. Mr Harvey, with his glasses and his receding hair line. Lindsey and I would always talk about him and how creepy he seemed. My mother would tell us off, saying he was just lonely and needed friends. But I knew when there was a misjudgement of character.

"Hope that wasn't your homework," He smiled.

I tried a smile, despite the shivers crawling down my spine. The excitement I had felt earlier had now gone, and instead was replaced with an uneasy chill.

I looked up at the sky above, turning a pastel pink. The dry corn crunched under our shoes as he begun walking with me.

"Hey, you're the Salmon girl, right?"

"Yeah," I replied, as I didn't want to sound rude.

"You remember me, I live in the old greenhouse… Mr Harvey?"

Of course I remembered him. He told me about how he knew my parents and I nodded politely in return.

"I've just built something for the neighbourhood kids and thought that maybe you would be interested," He suddenly tells me, or maybe he had been leading up to it, as I had lost interest. "Did you want to check it out?"

We both stopped. I turned my head towards the direction I wanted to go in. Needed to go in. My house was then only a short distance from here. Then I could be home.

"Actually, I need to get home." I told him, trying to seem polite, despite my hands freezing and just wanting to be at home with Holiday, my beautiful dog,

"Oh…okay." Did I feel guilt? Suddenly I felt bad.

Maybe he was just lonely. Surely if he was a creep, he wouldn't have built this amazing clubhouse? Maybe me and Lindsey could visit sometimes, and even Buckley. I thought of Ray too, but maybe he would think we were too old for that.

"Um…okay."

"Great! It's just this way."

I slowly followed him towards where he had suddenly stopped. I tried to find some sort of house. But there was nothing but him. Weren't clubhouses supposed to be in trees?

"Where is it?" I ask.

Suddenly he bangs his foot on the ground and a hollow sound is heard.

My interest peaked; I walk towards it in a daze. I feel like a seven year old again when my dad would build something new for me and Lindsey to play in.

Mr Harvey opens the trap door and inside I see a set of steps. It's like a cave in the ground. I stare down in awe, forgetting everything. All I want to do is have an adventure in this cave.

He helps me down as I climb down the ladder. Inside are various different ornaments, some like the ones my mother owns. Candles are lit up, making it feel warm and cosy. The handmade cushions provided on the small love seat also help make the place feel cosy. It seems sort of small, but I reckon at least three children can come in at once.

"Wow, this is so cool! I can't wait to show my sister." I enthuse, taking everything in.

He clears his throat, and I notice suddenly he's closed the trap door. Was this a good idea? Maybe he just wanted to keep the cold out. He asks me to take a seat, and gradually my interest begins to warn. He starts messing around with the ornaments, pretending they're some sort of puppet. Suddenly I am fourteen again, and I remember that I have a date with my crush tomorrow, and that me and him would rather be walking around the mall or chilling at the park, talking about the latest music, than sit in here and watch a man play with some china.

But then I think about why he's doing this. He has to be lonely. Maybe Buckley and his friends could come down here instead.

He then stops and laughs, and silence prevails the clubhouse. I wonder what time it is. I had forgotten to put my watch on this morning.

He suddenly reaches out to my hat. "I love your hat, it's so pretty." He pauses, and his dark eyes find mine behind his glasses. "Just like you, Susie."

I feel like my heart stops. My mouth dries up and I try to swallow. But suddenly this room seems too small, too bright, and I feel so far away underground like this. I clench my fists, trying to stay calm.

"Here, let me get you something to drink."

I would love more than anything to drink something right now. But not here: not with this man who I knew I couldn't trust.

"I need to get home," I say, beginning to pick up my bag and make an exit.

He puts his hand out, instantly stopping me like he has cast a spell on me.

"No, it's rude to leave. I'll tell you when you can leave."

He hands me the glass coke bottle, the coke making bubbles. The fizzing sounds too loud. He then begins taking his coat off.

"It's hot, isn't it? At least no one will freeze down here," He laughs, as if he thinks he's funny.

My eyes find the ladder. One, two…five steps and I'm out. That's all, just five steps. I know what he will do to me. I was stupid to trust him. He has me down here, where no one will know where I have gone. There is only one outcome and it's not good.

"What's wrong? You can trust me."

I turn my attention to him. His beady eyes are staring at me.

"I won't hurt you, Susie."

I pounce like a cat. I hear the sound of glass breaking as I leap towards the ladder. My stupid gloves make my grip harder. I feel his big hands on the back of me, trying to pull me down.

"No!" I scream, gripping onto the ladder so tightly.

With one last yank, he has me on the floor. I feel the cold earth beneath me, damp from the rain.

I see these as my last minutes of breathing. All I see is him, towering over me, his eyes no longer kind but hungry like a tiger. He has something in his hands: a razor, glinting mischievously. I feel a squeal rise in the back of my throat.

"Please… don't… hurt me." I'm shaking so much.

"I told you to trust me, Susie." His voice sounds so soft still, it frightens me. As if he what he has done is perfectly normal.

Then I thought about something my father told me to do if I was ever attacked by a man: "Kick him where it hurts, then you'll know he will be down."

So I do just that. Despite trembling and feeling so hot and weak, I kick him and he instantly falls down in pain over my legs. It's now or never. I scuttle along the ground like a mouse, my aim to get to that ladder. I feel my hand cut into some glass, pain instantly crawling up my arm. I feel his hand grab my leg. Not this time. I kick his face with my other leg so hard that I don't know if I have knocked him out.

I don't care to check. I mange to work my legs up the ladder. At first I can't get the trap door open. What if he had locked it? But with one big shove, the door flies open, and I fly out the gap with it.

Darkness has descended the sky, leaving a slight mist among the corn field. How long had I been down there? I run and run, my breath rising in and out. I listen to it so carefully. It had almost been silenced forever.

I nearly miss my front door. I skid on the damp grass twice. The lights are on and I have never felt so happy. I fly through and I first see my mom, walking up and down. When I enter, I see relief but also horror as she takes in my appearance. I also can hear Holiday barking manically, but it sounds so distant.

Then my dad comes through the living room, with Lindsay behind him.

"Oh my God! Where have you been?" My mother cries, taking me into her arms and stroking my hair.

I am crying so hard and I can barely breathe. But I am here. I am here with my parents and I know that no one can hurt me.

The next morning I sit in my bed. I knew I couldn't meet with Ray today like I wanted to. Lindsey said that if she saw him on her run, she would tell him why. My duvet is wrapped around me as I hold my most precious possession in my hands: my camera. I feel comfort as I hold it, turning it round and round in my hands.

I hadn't slept at all last night. Even with Lindsey next to me, even though I had been told that Mr Harvey had just barely been caught and was now being questioned, I couldn't sleep. My mom had only just told me this information and that apparently he had been caught in his car on the highway.

I get out of bed and hold my snow globe in my good hand. My other hand is bandaged up after cutting it on the glass. I turn it so that the snow cascades over the penguin. I feel tears brim my eyes. I was so close to not coming back here again.

A knock at my door startles me, and I ask whoever it is to come in.

"Hey, Susie Q," My dad smiles.

I walk up to him and wrap my arms around him. I breath in the smell of his after shave. I know that without his advice, I wouldn't be here now. I still can see the glint of the razor in Mr Harvey's hand, how close I was to death.

"How you holding up?"

"Better," I breathe in.

He pulls away and brushes my fringe out of my face. "The police will want to talk to you soon. If you're not okay with that you just tell me and I'll tell them to go away."

We both grin at each other. "But there is someone else down there who would like to see you."

I follow my dad down the hall and at the top of the landing I can see a head of jet black curls. Ray. In my living room. Ray turns at the sound of me and dad entering, and I am greeted with that handsome smile of his.

"Hi," He says.

I nod, feeling awkward with my dad in the living room with me. My mother however rescues the situation by asking to have some help in the kitchen. I know that they wouldn't let me be so far away with him, especially now that I had nearly been murdered, but I appreciate that they give me at least this bit of privacy.

"Hi, Ray," My voice still sounds shaky and weak from all of the crying last night.

I can tell Ray doesn't know what to do or say, so I ask him to sit down.

"I…am so sorry with…"

"It's not your fault."

"I wish I had walked you home or…anything!"

"Ray, nothing happened to me in the end. I escaped."

I escaped. I escaped a soon to be killer. I had to live with that for the rest of my life and that suddenly just dawned on me.

"Your sister told me everything. I was on my way to the mall, to meet you."

"I am glad she told you and that you didn't think I had ditched you."

I don't know what else to say. I didn't want it to be like this. I wanted us to have milkshakes, visit the record store, go for a walk. I didn't want to feel tired and feel like I could sleep for eternity.

"I think you should get some rest…I just wanted to make sure you were okay." He places his hand on top of my injured one. Then he picks it up and puts a soft kiss onto it. I study his lips as they kiss my hand, the way his lashes flick upwards so perfectly.

I walk him to the door, feeling my dad's protective gaze on my back. I smile at this.

"Good bye, Mr and Mrs Salmon," Ray says over his shoulder and they wave at him in return.

I know soon that neighbours will start calling, saying how sorry they are at what had happened. They even did it when I broke my leg at ten years old. I had so much chocolate given to me it lasted me for a month. I even see some now as I exit the house, looking my way. I try to avoid their gazes, for now anyway.

The frosty morning bites at my bare arms, but I want to see Ray before he leaves. I want to see his face, the face that maybe I would never have seen again.

"I hope you feel better soon Susie. Get some rest, and…I will see you at school whenever."

I nod and I watch as he leaves. No, I can't just let him go like this. I run across the lawn and I turn him round. "Meet me at the mall…next Saturday."

His face explodes into brightness. "I will. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

I smile at him as he walks away. The lick of Holiday's tongue on my hand brings me back to this lawn. I relish the grass against my bare feet. Once you see death in front of you, and you escape it, you know what it's like to live again.


End file.
